The flavanols and procyanidins have attracted a great deal of attention in the fields of medicine and nutrition due to the wide range of their biological activities (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,273). Applicants have now discovered that administration of the compounds recited herein leads to an enhancement of executive cognitive function(s) and/or to an increase in blood flow in brain vasculature.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging technique that is based on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a spectroscopic technique used to obtain microscopic chemical and physical information about molecules. MRI is used primarily in medical settings to produce high quality images of the inside of the human body. MRI systems can also image flowing blood in virtually any part of the body. This allows for studies that show the arterial system in the body, but not the tissue around it. In many cases, the MRI system can do this without a contrast injection, which is required in vascular radiology.
Changes in blood flow and blood oxygenation (collectively known as hemodynamics) in the brain vasculature are known to be closely linked to/accompany neural activity (i.e., brain activity/function). Therefore, brain activity/function can be studied by mapping changes in brain hemodynamics using imaging techniques. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is one such magnetic resonance (MR)-based technique used to determine brain function. It measures changes in brain activity through the blood oxygenation level dependent contrast (“BOLD”) effect. The BOLD effect is based on changes in distribution of oxygenated hemoglobin. When brain cells are active they consume oxygen carried by hemoglobin in red blood cells from local capillaries. This oxygen utilization leads to an increase in blood flow to regions of increased brain activity which results in local changes in the relative concentration of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin. Hence, the oxygenation change measured by the BOLD response arises from a complex interplay of increases in cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption (CMRO2). Thus, changes in the BOLD signal are well correlated with changes in blood flow, i.e., an increase in the BOLD response is an indication of increased blood flow which in turn may correspond to increased cognitive function, for example enhanced mental acuity and/or abilities.
Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) is another non-invasive magnetic resonance (MR)-based imaging technique that provides a physiologically relevant measure of CBF in absolute units (i.e., ml of blood/100 grams of tissue/minute). ASL-based imaging is made possible by the same regional neurovascular coupling that is the basis of BOLD response; however, it provides a quantitative measure of changes in blood flow itself rather than of changes in blood oxygenation.
The use of the above brain imaging techniques (fMRI BOLD response and ASL) has allowed for the invention described herein.
Executive cognitive functions play critical roles in the performance of numerous complex tasks, for example, decision making, planning, working memory, multitasking, judgment, numerical problem-solving, and reading comprehension. Therefore, there is a need in the art for methods of enhancing executive cognitive function(s) and/or for increasing blood flow in the brain.